McCabe was three times a First Division winner

The now 54-year-old was a dazzling talent with a mop of curly hair back when he became Craig Brown’s first ever signing at Clyde back in 1977 and he was a Bully Wee player for the next three seasons before moving to the Bankies.

McCabe said: “I have a lot to thank Craig for. I was with Hibs as a youngster and they let me go and Craig gave me a chance in the senior game after I came back from a stint playing in Canada.

"I picked up a Second Division Championship medal in my first season so it was a good time to be there.

“I then moved to Clydebank and they were a right good side then with Jim Gallacher in goal, Jim Fallon in defence and strikers like Bobby Williamson, Gerry Ronald and Mike Larnach in the line-up.

"We played a lot of attractive football and that suited my game and we also had good young boys like Mark Treanor breaking through as well.”

The New Kilbowie Park side was a fertile breeding ground for talent with McCabe commenting: “When you consider Davie Cooper and Frank McDougall had not long left and Owen Coyle came in after I moved on, you could say that the Steedman brothers knew how to spot a player. They would bring guys in and sell them on for a good transfer fee and they knew how to do it well.”

Winning the respect of his fellow professionals is something that McCabe quite rightly remains proud of as he explained: “It was great to be recognised particularly in my first season as Clydebank did not win anything and we changed Managers from Bill Munro, who had taken me there, to Sammy Henderson.

“In those first two seasons, Maurice Johnston was scoring goals for Partick Thistle and was seen as a real hot prospect in the First Division so I must have been doing something well to get picked. In the third season, we were promoted behind Motherwell so it was a really satisfying season for me.”

Clydebank were to stay in the SFL Premier Division for two seasons with McCabe saying: “Playing in the Premier Division was fantastic as you had the Old Firm in there but Aberdeen were incredibly strong then as well.

"We did okay and got some good results including a 2-1 win over Rangers in the last game before Graeme Souness took over as Manager in 1986.”

As a member of the Players’ Player of the Year winners' club, we asked McCabe for his views on the three SFL players that were honoured last weekend and he advised:- 

John Baird (Raith Rovers) 

“A player I watched a lot when he was at Airdrie United.  A really busy striker with a great desire to do well and one of the reasons that Raith Rovers were neck and neck with us over recent months. I was disappointed our Andy Kirk never won the award but he was nominated and will be happy with that as he missed part of the season with injury.”

Rory McAllister (Brechin City)

“I have seen Rory in games three or four times and also on television when Brechin played St. Johnstone. He is very good technically and very strong physically so I am not surprised there are a lot of clubs looking at him. He is only 23-years-old and I am sure he would blossom in a full-time environment.”

Gavin Swankie (Arbroath)

“He has played against us for both St. Johnstone and Dundee and was really good for both of them. I was surprised to see that he went to a Third Division side but he maybe wanted to feature every week. Arbroath have been promoted and they will be doing well to keep hold of him as he may have ambitions to go full-time again.”

After his run of awards, McCabe left Clydebank to move on to his home town team of Hamilton Academical in 1987 and he then played out his career with Cork City and Glentoran in both sides of the border in Ireland. He then had short stints at Arbroath and Dumbarton as he played past his 40th birthday.

The East End Park assistant was asked why, despite his success amongst some famous names and with scouts aplenty at the Bankies, a big move had never happened for him and he said: “I had a great time at all my clubs but I do regret I never quite got that move into the big time. I had a good career and had three stints in Canada and a great time in Ireland but I would have loved to have been in the Premier Division for longer.

“I started off as a full-timer at Hibs but they let me go and perhaps the writing was on the wall as soon as I signed for them.”

He explained: “I knew that Celtic and Hibs were both keen on me but Hibs asked first and I signed for them. The very day I signed there, I got a call from John Clark asking me to play in a trial game for Celtic against Motherwell but of course, I could not go.

“My dad said he had always wanted to see me play in green and white but he had not expected it to be at Hibs.”

Later in his career, there were plenty of rumours over interest in McCabe as he advised: “I thought I was capable of playing at a higher level and I heard things about Celtic, Aston Villa and Newcastle United all being interested but it never came to anything. In those days, you would not have heard anything official unless the Steedman brothers had wanted you to and I never did.

“I did my stints in Scotland, Canada and Ireland and then joined my old team-mate Bobby Williamson at Kilmarnock in a coaching role.”

The duo were a success at Rugby Park bringing the Scottish Cup back to Ayrshire in 1997 with a 1-0 win over Falkirk thanks to Paul Wright’s goal at Ibrox.

McCabe said: “We also took Kilmarnock to a CIS Insurance Cup Final against Celtic and Hibs to a CIS Insurance Cup Final against Livingston, although that one did not turn out as expected.”

The pair went their separate ways after a stint together at Plymouth with Williamson now in charge of the Ugandan national side with McCabe saying: “Goodness knows if he will ever be back in Scotland, he is treated like a King there.”

McCabe is not the only one at Dunfermline that can talk about Killie’s Scottish Cup success as he added: “The Manager, Jim McIntyre, was there as player at the time as was Alex Burke.”

Winning the First Division Championship was a different feeling of success to the cup as McCabe explained: “It took seven games to win the Scottish Cup and it was a fantastic occasion however, winning the League is a year’s work. It is all about consistency and doing things week in and week out. There were games when we were down to the bare bones of a squad and the boys pulled through.”

The Pars have won praise for their attacking approach to games home and away with McCabe saying: “Attacking play is our philosophy, we just always went for it home or away. There were some games away from home when we got pushed back a bit but when you have Joe Cardle, Willie Gibson and David Graham in your squad, you have to attack.

“We also had Steven McDougall, who filled in every attacking position possible, and Andy Kirk had a great run of goals in the early part of the season. Losing Steven Bell to an achilles injury for most of the season was a blow but everyone has ups and downs, it is how you cope with them that is important.”

What McIntyre’s squad achieved is slowly dawning in Fife with McCabe saying: “Last weekend has left everyone on a high and I am delighted for a lot of people at the club especially the players and the fans.

"However, I don’t think what we have achieved will fully sink in until we see next season’s fixture list and are visiting Tynecastle, Easter Road, Parkhead and Ibrox.”